Mixed messages on Darfur as pressure mounts

The Sudanese government has welcomed the impending visits of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and US Secretary of State Colin Powell, which will focus on the Darfur crisis, but has also accused foreigners of trying to interfere in the country's internal affairs. Both high-profile visitors are due to arrive this week and to hold consultations with each other and the government in Khartoum: Annan will spend three days in Sudan and neighbouring Chad from 30 June; Powell will stay from 29 to 30 June. "As it happens, Secretary of State Powell's visit and my visit will coincide, and we will be together for at least one day in Khartoum, where we will be collectively putting pressure on the government to do what it has to do," said Annan at a press conference on Friday. Welcoming the visit last week, the minister of state for foreign affairs, Najib al-Khayr Abd al-Wahhab, reportedly said Annan's visit would consolidate "the partnership between the government and the UN in solving the humanitarian crisis in Darfur", according to the Sudanese News Agency, Suna. A statement issued by President Umar Hasan al-Bashir on 24 June had said "foreign quarters" were using Darfur as "an alternative entry to interference in Sudan's internal affairs", according to the Khartoum-based Al-Sahafah daily newspaper. Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma'il reportedly added during a press conference on Saturday that he rejected "any pressure" by the US and UN concerning "conditions" in Darfur during the impending visits. The government was committed to "deter[ring] the outlaws in Darfur", while the final solution to the region's problems was linked to the "disarmament of the rebels and the armed militias", Suna quoted Bashir as saying. Under the terms of the ceasefire - which has repeatedly been broken - signed by Darfur's two rebel groups and Khartoum on 8 April, Khartoum is obliged to neutralise its allied Arab militias (the Janjawid), which are responsible for most of the displacement in the region. According to the UN, there are over one million internally displaced persons (IPDs) in Darfur, while about 200,000 have fled to neighbouring eastern Chad as refugees. The US Agency for International Development has analysed aerial photographs of 576 villages in Darfur, of which 300 have been completely destroyed and 76 substantially destroyed. Khartoum has vehemently denied allegations of wrongdoing in Darfur, and repeatedly claimed that it is making efforts to control the Janjawid. Bashir said last week that accusations of "ethnic cleansing" by some Western media were "sheer fabrications and baseless", Suna reported. But mixed messages are coming from Khartoum, according to the US government, which says the government has done almost nothing to rein in the Janjawid, and is still holding up the delivery of aid in the region. "We've seen, on the one hand, President Bashir's declaration that the militias will be disarmed. We haven't seen any real follow-through on that. And then, on the other hand, we've also heard reports that he may be retracting that statement," said Adam Ereli of US State Department on Friday. At the same time, Khartoum is claiming that the IDP situation is under control. Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid said last week that things were "under control regarding accommodation of the displaced people in Darfur", adding that around 179,000 IDPs had been accommodated by the government, according to Suna. Last week, the US named seven Janjawid leaders and coordinators: Musa Hilal, Hamid Dawai, Abdullah Abu Shinaybat, Umar Babbush, Omada Saef, Ahmad Dekheir and Ahmad Abu Kamasha, saying that it would impose sanctions on them. It was also considering the imposition of sanctions on the Sudanese government, Ereli told reporters. Annan said not only the "field commanders" were responsible for "atrocities" and "crimes" in Darfur but "also some of the leaders who are giving the orders, who may be held responsible". The perpetrators ought to be put on notice that they would be held accountable, "whoever they are", he added. The US State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said on 24 June that the militias responsible for much of the violence in Darfur were still being supported by Khartoum, and that the government needed to bring them under control. "On the issue of controlling the violence, we've seen little follow-through... The government humanitarian affairs commission has said that they will bring police to south Darfur to protect civilians at the camps there, but we haven't actually seen that happen yet." "We hope they see this as an opportunity to show that they're willing to take some real action against the militias and to really open up humanitarian access," said Boucher in reference to Powell's impending visit. The US government is currently undertaking an "intensive review" to determine whether the displacement constitutes genocide. Annan said last week that it was "bordering on ethnic cleansing" and that "hundreds of thousands of lives" were at "great risk".